Twenty-four Boston colleges, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have signed a 53-point plan to decrease underage and campus binge drinking -- and students at these schools are reacting negatively.
The plan contains an agreement to limit alcohol deliveries to undergraduate residence halls and increase the availability of college housing for freshmen to reduce the attraction of living in fraternity housing early in their college careers.
This plan occurs at a time when colleges across the country are reexamining their campus policies concerning alcohol after the two high-profile 1997 drinking deaths of MIT student Scott Krueger and Louisiana State University's Benjamin Wynne, and a series of other alcohol-related deaths in 1998.
"The general consensus seems to be that the signing was just a big political and media play to make it appear that something is actually being done," an MIT sophomore told The Dartmouth. "But the truth is, if the schools ever seriously tried to enforce it, there would be a lot of protests."
A Harvard junior expressed similar views. "The signing doesn't really change anything at all," he said. "It's just good press for the colleges. I have not seen any significant changes in the availability of alcohol to underage students. It's still pretty easy to get a hold of."
Harry Lewis, the dean of students at Harvard, said the university has not made significant changes to its alcohol policy, but "we have signed an agreement to with other Boston-area universities to work together on this problem."
The agreement signed by the Boston schools contains many of the resolutions from a Congressional initiative introduced this summer.
Rep. Joseph Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., introduced legislation aimed at reducing binge drinking on college campuses.
"Binge drinking is the biggest problem facing America's colleges today," Biden told The Dartmouth last week.
The Collegiate Initiative to Reduce Binge Drinking and Illegal Alcohol Consumption calls on all college presidents to comply with six guidelines for reducing alcohol consumption on campus.
The resolutions include appointing a task force, offering "dry" residential alternatives and enforcing a zero-tolerance policy on the consumption of alcohol by minors.
A task force called the "Dean's Council" has been formed by the Boston colleges, to discuss the progress of the agreement and to propose further provisions if necessary.
Alcohol-related deaths have plagued not only Boston campuses, but campuses nationwide. A recent "48 Hours" investigation highlighted two alcohol-related deaths at Michigan colleges.
University of Michigan freshman Courtney Cantor died in early December after returning to her dormitory from a sorority pledge party and falling from her sixth-floor room window.
In the same month, a student at Michigan State University died of alcohol poisoning celebrating his 21st birthday at a local bar.
After the Michigan deaths, 19-year-old Indiana University student Joseph Bisanz became at least the 20th college student to die of alcohol-related causes in the past year.
Bisanz was found unconscious in his fraternity house room after a December party. His death was attributed to asphyxiation caused by excessive drinking.
